King of Death
by UnholiestHoly
Summary: What happens when Cody End, the King of Death, discovers who and what he is, what powers he has, and whether he wants to use it for Death or Life. Harem, OC is not reincarnated. OP OC, blood, guts, and profanity galore. (Especially once past the prologue)
1. OC Bio

Note: I do not own DxD. Just my OC and his stuff.

OC

Name: Cody End

Birth: 7/24

Titles: King of Death, Dark Reaper

Appearance:

Hair: Dirty Blonde, Long, often slicked back

Eyes: Slightly dark blue, somewhat slotted like a reptile or cat (when angered or irritated the blue shifts to brilliant red)

Body: Somewhat more muscular than average, kinda tall like 5'11-6'1ish height

Clothes: Dark black t-shirt, Dark black sweatpants with twin yellow stripes on the legs facing outwards, sometimes wears a baggy black sweatshirt, often wears a black cloak with baggy sleeves, a yellow trim and a yellow hood that slopes to point that goes down to the center of the face ( effectively covering a third of his face and completely obscures his eyes)

Habits: Mentally, Magically, and Physically trains often, often carries a book to read (varying between different magic types and sciences), always carries his favorite knife everywhere (even where he shouldn't, like school for example), often napping, occasionally eats pot brownies

Powers/Abilities/Gear:

Abilities: Death, Quickly learn new magic, Control of Darkness

Draws Power From: Death energy, Darkness, Life Energy

Skilled in: Swords, his dual scythe, exceptional skill and speed with runes, magic, manipulating people

Sacred Gear: Boosted Gear

Weapons:

Grimsever (Grim-Sever)- Large black scythe with a silver blade on the top and bottom, skull on the top and bottom of the staff's rod with the blade going through it (eye holes glow red when feeding)

Cloak of Shadows: Just his cloak he made by weaving pure darkness, can hide bodyheat, presence, aura or bend nearby light to give total invisibility ( further description of looks in clothes

Weaknesses:

Poison- Severely weakens him

Life Essence- Typical healing spells or abilities cause extreme pain and damage

Excessive Death Energy- If his reserves of Death Energy grow larger than his personal Life Energy, it temporarily destroys his mind and throws him into a rage/ temporary insanity


	2. Prologue: The Beginning of End

Message: This is one of my imaginative takes on the DxD universe. Read the damn description and character info if you want to know about my OC appearance and powers, that's why I made it (and to keep myself reminded, I'm forgetful) This is my first story, I wanted to take a crack at writing to see if I had any talent or if I enjoy it. Let me know what you think. (BTW there is gonna be a lot of third person in this prologue. It just worked best that way, I will apologize for that. It will be more balanced in the future.)

P.S. Asia will probably stay dead, along with minor changes, like age or grade of minor characters and such, also this will have blood, gore, and profanity galore. You are warned.

Note: I do not own DxD, I just enjoy it. I only own my OC and his stuff. Enjoy

 **Note: Fixed after realizing my italics and bolds didn't carry over. Along with re-edit (seeing as how I fucked up several semi-important hints and shit). Story mostly unchanged, just more legible.**

Normal

'Thinking'

"Talking"

 **"Ddraig Talking"**

 **'Ddraig Thinking"**

-Prologue: The Start of End-

A eight year old was walking on his way home from the library, completely lost in his thoughts. He was mulling over a weird book he found in the library, it was a simple, black leather, unmarked hardcover encyclopedia with yellow, dog-eared pages left to rot in a back corner of the library. No, it was what was in it that interested the boy, for it spoke of a War between Angels, Fallen Angels, and Devils. Then there was dragons, Gods, and most interesting, Magic. I don't mean the type of magic with a hat and a rabbit, or smoke and mirrors, no I mean commanding elements, matter, and energy. To top it off, it spoke of energies of Life and Death. All these were spoken of as if they were real, which excited yet befuddled the mind of the eight year old. I'm getting ahead of myself though, before we go further, let me tell you the child's name. His name was Cody, a child with no family, only survival instincts and a sharp mind.

Cody was found on a footstep of a orphanage on July 23rd. Due to his lack of a last name and his strange eyes, he was isolated by the other kids at a young age, and that suited him just fine, minus a strange emotion that arose on occasion, but it was always ignored. Without anyone to disrupt him, he devoted all his time to training his body and mind, because he saw that the world, for a lack of a better phrase, bites ass. He saw it was a game a game of survival, and to survive brains with brawn was necessary. One without the other was a liability, one he could not afford. So, he grew and his mind strengthened.

It went on like this for years until one day when Cody was 6, he met a kid who did not isolate him, in fact, despite Cody actively avoiding and ignoring the kid, the kid only tried harder to befriend him. Eventually, Cody decided to acknowledge the kid as he tried to read in a park.

"Hiya, whatcha reading?" The kid said as they approached Cody knowing they would not get a answer.

"A book on electricity and how it works in nature." Cody replied.

The kid froze in shock for a moment, until the kid started rapidly jumping up and down before sprinting to ask finally talk to Cody.

" What's your name? Mine's Irina Shidou!" The child now known as Irina exclaimed excitedly.

"I'm Cody" Was the reply

"What about your last name?"

"Don't have one."

"Think of one" She replied

"Why?" Cody questioned, putting his book away as he looked up knowing he wouldn't be able to read with her around.

"Because everyone has a first name, they're probably lots of Codys, but you're you, so you need a last name to tell you apart from the others." She replied in earnest.

"Fine, I'll think of one, later, until then just call me Cody." He said curtly.

"Then you can call me Irina."

"Now then, why do you continue to search for me everyday?" He questioned.

"Silly, I want to be your friend!" Was her reply.

"Why?" He asked, disbelief dripping from his voice, after all, no one ever wanted to talk to him, not to mention be friends.

"Because"

"That's not a answer"

"Too bad, that's all I need to be your friend. Besides, everyone needs a friend and we both don't have any. So we can be friends with each other." Was her reasoning.

"I'm surprised, why don't you have many friends?"

"I just got here because of my dad's work and he doesn't know how long we'll be here."

Cody could believe that considering she had first showed up 2 weeks ago and wasn't seen anywhere before. He knew he wouldn't be able to get rid of her so he decided to see where this goes.

They spent the next year and a half becoming closer. In that time Cody's numb emotions and personality finally started showing themselves. Once that happened, other kids started to actually talk to him and stick around him. Then, one day Irina said she was leaving. Although they were disappointed, they knew they would always be friends. The next day she left, but Cody was for the better from meeting and befriending her.

-Several Months Later-

Now we return to Cody as he walks back from the library. As he walks a loud piercing shriek draws him from his thoughts. Noticing it came from the woods, he quickly deciding what to do, he runs to see what happened. As he turns to go in, he notices something shoot out of the tree foliage.

'What the Fuck?' He thinks, quoting the town drunk. (Not the only phrase or word he learned from him.)

"What the Fuck!" He repeats as he comes across a clearing and sees a woman laying in the grass. Well, what's left of her, her throat was slashed open and she had gaping holes in her head and chest. As he peels his eyes from the sight he notices a pile of limbs in a corner being pecked at by crows. He sees her arms and legs and… 'Wings! Fucking Wings!' That was what he saw. Big, bloody, black bat wings. He checked the corpse for wing stubble, and he found it. Now he was taking that book seriously. As he walked away, he didn't notice a black mist come from the corpse and rush into his body. He believed in the supernatural from that point on, and he was going to be prepared. He immediately read that old book, and found everything he could in it.

-Several Months Later-

It was then he started to learn and practice magic. He found that at first, he couldn't do much just a flicker, then he ran out of magic. He found that like his mind and muscles, the more he used it, the stronger it got. He started to research all kinds of magic from all kinds of religions.

He started carrying his pocket knife on him. It had a 3 inch curved blade and a green and black mottled bone handle with a skull motif. He also started to practice swordsmanship and blacksmithing, as well as how to combine them. He practiced imbuing items with magic and found he had a natural gift for making runes. He learned trap runes, attack runes, enhancing runes, and runes to enchant… although he had to be more careful after he accidentally started a fire in the orphanage by trying to enchant a wooden practice sword with lightning…

Even with magic, he still kept studying the sciences, especially once he realized that combining magic with scientific knowledge made it far more potent. He studied more about souls, how they're connected, and spiritual theories. He found from some old records how everyone has a hidden power within their soul that could only be awoken through practice, self-discovery, and strength of will. Although he wondered what his was, he couldn't find anything else on how to unlock it. He strangely enough, was unable to find anything more than the basics about Life and Death energies.

'Intriguing that no matter where I look, there is next to no information or records on Life or Death energy past what that old book said.' He thought to himself as he got up from where he was 'Is it just theories with no foundation, or is there more hidden?'

He went to his special chest where he copied and organized every piece he found that was about legitimate the supernatural or anything to do with it. He eventually found his copy of the book and flipped through until he found what he was looking for…

 _Life and Death energy are the most fundamental of energy and existence. Everyone has Life energy, for it is a measure of their life. When one lacks life energy, they die, and in the place of the Life energy, Death energy is formed. Concentrations of this Death energy cause uneasy or ominous feelings in the living. It is highly toxic even in small concentrations as it rapidly erodes the very essence of the living, that is to say their souls as well as their Life energies. Ancient texts talk of beings that could…_

'Damn, if only those pages weren't so screwed up, then I could've found more.' He was as disappointed as ever at his lack of information about the subject.

-1 Year Later-

It was a average day for Cody as he walked forwards, completely lost in the wilderness.

'By my educated guess, I am very very lost and very, very FUCKING far from home' He thought in self-annoyance, because he decided to explore far out of his usual areas, even though he knows he knew nothing about the layout of the land, its geography, fauna, or animals, although that was the whole reason for his exploration of it. It wasn't like he would struggle or it would be uncomfortable, no, it was the fact he didn't think to bring anything to read to entertain himself. So he was going to have to spend the night bored out of his mind.

At least, until he heard the screams. He heard it coming from his left, so that's where he sprinted to. He needed to identify the threat and before it found him.

'Thank the Ancients I trained myself in speed, otherwise clearing this distance would be way longer.' He thought as he rushed towards the screams.

'What the Fuck!' He mentally thought as he watched the events unfold hidden from a tree. He was by a road looking at a temple, and from his hiding spot, he watched a black haired woman try to protect her ten year old daughter (same age as him) from some weird…

'What the hell? They look like some weird cult mixed with the KKK?' He thought as he watched with mild interest. 'Oh, the mother is dead.' He thought as the black haired mother was stabbed in the chest protecting the violet-eyed girl, and seeing the weirdos with weapons prepare another strike, likely aimed at the daughter. 'I feel like I should save her, but there is no reason why I should. It's not as if she's my friend, nor would it be worth endangering myself to save her… it's just the natural order, the weak die. It's not my problem or fault.' Yet even as he thought that he had rushed in and sucker punched the one about to strike, sending him flying, and getting all three of his buddies' attention. He quickcast a ice wall spell to take the hit as he carved basic runes of protection in front of the girl.

'Who is this boy? And what is with his eyes?' The girl thought as she noticed his strange eyes and sensed his magic.

'There is no way those will hold, but they should buy enough time for me to get an edge' He thought as he noticed they had regrouped and had practically obliterated the ice wall. He saw that this was not going to be an easy fight, and for some reason, he was thrilled as his heartbeat raced and his adrenaline surged. He shot forward and high kicked one of the enemies where he imagined their skull would be, and upon hearing a sick, wet, resounding Crack!, signifying a crushed skull as the guy flew 12 feet back, stone dead, then he smiled and looked at the other three as he called out "This all you got? I'm disappointed!" Before looking back to tell the girl to run, only to realize that she was already gone. 'Wow, rude… Oh well… Either way gotta deal with this.' He thought as he turned back, only to narrowly avoid losing his head to a sword swipe.

'This is cheap, but it's their fault for bugging me and butchering the mother.' He thought before yelling "Haha!" Then proceeding to jab the remaining three in their eyes, temporarily blinding them. While they were blinded, he picked up a large pebble and carved a rune for (Explode), then the first one to regain his sight charged at him… only to get slugged in the windpipes, at which point Cody tossed the pebble into the gaping mouth. It made it halfway down the esophagus before the top half exploded with guts flying out, a lung hitting one of the two in the face, who then proceeded to throw up. During their purging process, Cody axe-kicked his exposed neck, snapping it in half. The remaining one looked at the carnage then dropped his weapon and fell to his knees.

"Please, have mercy." He asked.

"Nah." Cody said before carving the rune (Fire) into the remaining enemy'sforehead.

The remaining one looked deathly still with his fear evident in his eyes, as his head and hood burst into flames. Soon spreading throughout his body. Once again, as Cody turned to leave, faint black mist flew out of the bodies and into the air, before rushing into Cody.

-3 Years Later-

He is now 13 years old. He has grown exponentially faster, stronger, and increased his reflexes. He has sharpened his mind and strengthened his magic. He trained himself to take and give punches as well as nearly mastered the sword. He finds he is rather skilled in blacksmithing after building a makeshift forge and practicing by making simple weapons and utility pieces like nails, which he sells to make some extra cash. He also runs around helping with any tedious task for extra cash for materials. He has finally forced himself to see what power he can draw from his soul. His affinity for darkness is rather rare as it turns out, in terms of powers, but unfortunately he has yet to truly unlock its use.

As for right now, though he is preparing to leave to get materials to work with. He is getting ready to go for a trip out of town to Kyoto to meet up with a kitsune he met with, who not only taught him some magic, but is also a major supplier of supernatural materials for him and occasionally, rare textbooks on magic… Even if she is a little eccentric…

As he boarded the train to take him, he couldn't help but feel something very good yet very bad was about to happen…

-2 hours later-

'She knew I was going to be here, where is whoever she sent to meet me?' He thought in annoyance as usually someone would be here to pick him up. While he didn't need fighting support, he did need someone who remembers the way there so he didn't waste time hunting for it.

'I swear to the Ancients, if I can't remember-OOF!-' Right as a bright yellow ball of fur slammed into his chest and sent him flying a good 5 feet.

"Cody, Cody, Cody! How ya been! I've been GREAT! MY TAILS FINALLY SPLIT!" The now identified fluff ball known as Kunuo shouted at Cody as he regained his breath.

"Yeah, I could tell considering that was like getting hit by a truck. Congrats, you finally got strong enough to have your tail split. Did Yasaka send you to lead me there?" He said getting up.

"Yeah let's go she said she's got something really special for you this time!" The 6 year old kitsune said as she started getting hyperactive again.

"Really, now I'm interested. What is it?" He replied seeing as how the last "special" gift from Yasaka was a rare book on enlightenment that helped him get past his mental block that prevented him from feeling presences and his own soul's affinity.

"Nah, can't tell you that. Mom says if I ruin her fun I couldn't have sweets for a week." Kunuo says, a little disappointed she couldn't tell her friend.

"It's alright, I get it" He says knowing how much the small fox loved sweets before a thoughtful face appeared, promptly followed by a mischievous grin as he thought of a way to get revenge for a rather, ummm… Heated memory of when he was last here and was invited to spend the night at the temple.

"Hey Kunuo, if you promise not to tell Yasaka about it until later and not to eat them while I'm here, I'll buy you twenty pixie sticks." He offered with a grin, knowing full well how the hyperactive fox would eat them at once, and just how… energetic she would be afterwards.

"Really? Yay!" The small fox said perking up instantly at the offer, and getting excited again.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" She squealed as he did his best not to laugh at Yasaka's future suffering.

After stopping at a candy store to pick up Kunuo's treat, she led him straight to the temple she lived at. After entering, Cody went straight to finding the older fox as the younger one went straight to her room to hide her prize until later. Spotting her as she prayed, Cody waited for her to finish her prayers before addressing the busty blonde fox mother.

"Hello Yasaka, I heard from Kunuo that you had something for special for me along with the raw materials. After the last one, I wonder what you'll charge me for it considering you even made Kunuo keep quiet about it." He said with a spark of excitement in his eyes.

"It is very special, and it wasn't easy to get in the slightest to get you know. It'll definitely be worthwhile to see how much you want it… After all, you've told me yourself how you're just dying to learn more about Life and Death energies." She said, knowing full well he'll take any price as she saw the spark grow into a full fledged inferno of curiosity and excitement.

"Well, we both know you've got me now. Name your price." He said, fully intent on delivering his promise.

"I want any three favors to be redeemed at any time, and I also want a runestone to draw people into my temple, seeing how business has been getting so slow since the other runestone died." She offered.

'The runestone is easy, that'll take like a hour at most so that the magic lasts longer. Those favors though, those could be problematic later, but I need that information… I did promise, I just hope this won't bite me in the ass later.' He thought, knowing full well it was going to.

"Deal" He replied, seeing both relaxing slightly at not having to worry about business anymore.

"We have the materials we would like for you to use in the back, the materials you bought should be sitting by the front altar, along with the scripture and it's translation. You can leave the runestone and payment in the usual spots. Thanks for your business!" She said with a smile at the only human she saw as a friend.

"Alright, it'll take about an hour, so keep Kunuo from getting in like last time." He said as he shuddered at the memory of the young fox accidentally changing his runes for luck to fire. As he turned to go to his workspace, he heard the older fox chuckle at the memory, and that made him think of how he would be chuckling at the thought of his friend trying to control her sugar high daughter.

-1 Hour Later-

"Haha! Finished, and it should last at least a year and a half!" He proclaimed to himself as he finished the complex formulae for the runestone.

"Is it finished?" The older fox asked with excitement, hoping to get the temple to rise in popularity once again, after the old one was completely drained.

"Yeah, and this one will be longest lasting, most complex runestone yet!" He exclaimed with pride. "All you have to do now is set it in the magic feeder I gave you last time, and this place will be the most popular spot in Kyoto once again."

"You know… I might have to use one of those favors to make you my mate when you're older, considering your overall strength and skill, especially with these runes of yours." She said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Please don't" Cody requested knowing full well she could, and might.

"We'll see…" She teased, right before she leaned down and whispered "Despite the lack of an age gap, you would be a good father figure to Kunuo, and it wouldn't be bad for you considering you'd get to be with me…" she whispered a little seductively at the end.

"Well, I uh… Gotta go!" Cody said before fleeing the temple with his purchases.

'Maybe I will' The older fox started to wonder, until she started panicking because she saw her daughter run by at the speed of sound with 5 pixie sticks in her mouth and many more in her hand.

"Some supernatural materials for me, while Yasaka deals with a sugar powered Kunuo? Haha, my revenge must really suck for her." He said to himself on the way home.

-Prologue: Part 1 End-

End Message: So what do you all think?


	3. Prologue 2: Of Death and Darkness

Apologies, I forgot that when I transfer the file, it gets all kinds of fucked up for some reason. That made it take far longer than I had planned to have this done and edited. My bad, I will try taking that into account next time.

Questions

zRoyal: Not a lot (mainly because for now he will have been trying to go unnoticed) but there is others. One will be revealed in here actually.

Reviews Response: Fair points, also I should clarify. **He** **can** **Die**. I did not make him immortal, I was just pointing out how weak poison specifically makes him feel.

Note: I do not own DxD, I just enjoy it. I only own my OC and his stuff. Enjoy

Also Note: Since he learns most of his skills from practice and books, I completely forgot to put my story of how he learned sword skills, and since I think it would feel cheap to try and introduce someone to teach him it suddenly along with him learning scythe skills or doing another look back at time like at the beginning of the other prologue would just be repetitive, so we're just gonna go with the scythe and drop the sword for this story.

(My Input)

 _(Runes)_

'Thinking'

"Talking"

 **"Ddraig Talking"**

 **'Ddraig Thinking'**

-Prologue: Of Death and Darkness-

-13 Years Old-

Cody was napping on the way back from Kyoto when a hour and a quarter in, he shot up out of his chair/booth from a sudden presence. He quickly assessed his surroundings, and saw it was the same few people as before. Over in the back left of the car was a mother with her baby trying to keep it quiet, in the front right was a pair of businessmen calling people and trying to negotiate, and behind Cody was… wait, where did the old man go?

'He was just there, but now he's gone?' Cody wondered before his stomach knotted, raw instinct triggering his reflexes to jump near the front, just in time to avoid death. As he was in the air he noticed metal spikes, almost so thin it was imperceptible, thrust out of his seat.

"Oh, so I get to have some fun with my prey? This'll be entertaining, Hahaha!" An enthusiastic, nail on chalkboard sounding, masculine voice said. "It's been so long since I've been able to enjoy myself." It continued as a form took shape on the other end of the car.

"And who might you be?" Cody questioned, hoping to buy time to identify the enemy, identify a weakness, and carve basic protection runes on some debris from the shredded seat.

His adversary was quickly taking form as the old man from before, but that didn't last long. He stood up straight, each bone in his back cracking as he did, until he stood at 7ft tall. His fake teeth fell out and out of his gums came thousands of those needles from before. His knuckles and finger joints all grew needles, with one sticking out of each joint. His frame quickly grew fairly muscular and his body no longer wobbled. His skin tanned and his eyes turned black while growing out a bit as the lids melted. His nose and ears shrank back into his head as his hair grew in as needles. And he was wearing a dark orange and yellow pinstriped suit. He wasn't even trying to hide his aura, a disgusting yet powerful presence. It was _not_ a very pleasant sight to say the least.

"My name was once William Palmer (Props to you if you get it or bother to look it up), former rook to a bratty devil. My power was that of a high-class Devil before I was deemed mentally insecure and ate my master. Now I go by Doc. I was a doctor before I became a Devil, but I realized that the only true cure is death, and killed my patients. Now everyone that rides this train is my patient. Watch." Doc said as he punched needles into the bottom of the train car.

Only for needles to emerge from the wall and completely fill the mother and child with holes. He then did it again killing one businessman instantly, impaling the other in the arm. He didn't get to celebrate his survival though, seeing how white he was turning and how he looked to be in serious pain.

"So, you can send those needles anywhere, and considering how he's reacting, they're poisonous?" Cody asked, trying to confirm his suspicions.

"Quite a nasty poison, too. It takes a while to kill, slowly weakening the victim while eating away at the tissue. Although, it doesn't really matter anyway seeing as how you'll be joining them." He replied with a gesture to his other kills, a grin creeping onto his face at the thought of Cody's slow demise.

"Well I hate to disappoint, but I'm not going to make it easy for you!" Cody exclaimed with enthusiasm as he dropped his stance down a bit, getting ready to dodge. He had seen Doc slowly placing his toes into the floor as they talked, predicting Doc was sending more needles. He had also noticed some... thing, float out of the corpses and into him, but that's for later, right now he needs to focus.

Relaxing his mind slightly, he looked for anything that would give away where they were gonna show from, he narrowly avoided the needles to his left due to his reflexes and protection runes, but his runes were destroyed in the process. He saw nothing out of the ordinary right before they came out and looked to Doc. All he saw was Doc's grin of sick pleasure and that he had already retracted his foot to prepare another attack.

Guessing it would be above or below, Cody kicked a chair to gain momentum and change direction. Seeing this Doc ran to the wall and punched. That's when Cody noticed one of Doc's eyes followed up the wall until… Needles! As Cody dropped and rolled under and attempted a slide, narrowly avoiding the attacks, and before Doc retracted, Cody pulled out his knife and looked for something small. Seeing a phone from a businessman, he snatched it off the ground dodging the spikes coming from his right. Cody then noticed a weakness.

'Wait! He has to retract the part fully before he can attack with that part again. He also seems to take a second or two when it is stuck. I can carve something simple for an edge in that time!' Cody realized.

Cody jumped to the ceiling to dodge the needles from below, left, and right. Pulling out the phone, he carved runes for _(dark) (explosion) (gas)_ and closed some distance before throwing it at Doc. Activating it once it was within 1ft of Doc, the whole car was filled with a dark gas, limiting sight severely.

Doc knew he was in a tough place right now. He was figured out so quickly by the damn kid and now he… Thud. Doc quickly sent his foot needles to the wall he heard the kid near. As they extended he felt something shove his back sending him falling forward… and right into his still extending needles.

Cody's plan had worked beautifully. He blinded Doc, then threw his shoe to the other side so Doc would attack, then rammed him into his own needles. What he didn't expect was Doc to extend his needles through himself to get him. He managed to dodge most, but his left shoulder and left leg were hit. It was fine for a couple moments, then...

It was the **worst** pain he has ever felt. He could feel the poison slowly breaking his body down. He could feel it draining him. He was not afraid of pain, but this was excruciating to the point he couldn't stand up. Such minor wounds could do this to him. How could he be so… _Weak?!_ He had no idea poison was such a bitch.

"You got me. Hahahaha! Such unexpected fun from you. I'd applaud, but it looks like you need more motivation to stand, so I'll tell you something. I'll let you go, if you can beat me in 4 minutes. Although, seeing as how you can barely stand, I don't think that's gonna happen." Doc said smugly, as he swallowed something from his right pocket.

'Is this how it ends? Really, in the end I couldn't do anything to survive?' He thought in self loathing.

' **No** , it won't be today.' He thought as he slowly got to his feet. He grimaced as he got into a stance.

"So you do have some fight in you! Good, I was hoping to play a bit more." Doc mocked.

'The poison doesn't seem to bother him much,' Cody thought as realization appeared on his face. 'It isn't much of a chance, but if he just swallowed something to counteract the poison, he might have more. Which means I have to get it.' He went to walk forward, then… he _felt_ it. He can't explain it, but he could _feel_ the darkness calling out to him.

He closed his eyes, focusing, sensed it and mentally reached out, pulling it towards him, enveloping himself in the darkness. It felt cool, dry, and… _soft?_ 'What' he wondered as he opened his eyes. He saw he was now wearing somewhat baggy black sweatpants and t-shirt, over top of which was a… cloak? These clothes were comfortable and easier to move in than his clothes before.

With renewed vigor he readied, ignoring the building pain. He needed the cure, and he needed it now. He decided to try using the darkness for something. He imagined the darkness hiding him from the world, concealing him in the depths of a black ocean. He was surprised when he felt ice crawl through his veins before hearing "What the Hell?" From Doc. He then moved to the left and noticed Doc's eyes didn't follow. He slowly crept up to Doc, who was currently focusing and using magic to sense for Cody.

Until, he suddenly found Cody's hand slamming his throat into the wall. As Doc removed the hand from his throat, he felt his medicine pocket get raided. Cody removed his hand, and was surprised to say the least. For in his hand was… _'Coffee Beans?!'_

"You figured out that was the medicine, I'm surprised. For a brat, that was pretty clever. I'm impressed, but you'll still die." He said while preparing another attack as Cody ate the beans.

Feeling the poison and pain weaken drastically, Cody sprinted to close the distance, right as Doc threw up a needle wall in front of himself. Kicking off the needles, Cody once more felt for the darkness, pulling himself into its depths and expelling him in front of Doc. Jumping out of the shadows, he did the only thing he could think of. He cut Doc's throat open, jabbed his fingers into Doc's throat, and ripped. The hole grew as he tore further and further, with Doc's screams assaulting his eardrums. He didn't stop until the very last embers of life died in Doc's eyes and he saw black mist funneled out of the body… and right up into his arm.

He looked at the blood on his hands, and he grinned. Not because he enjoyed or disliked it, and not because he was mentally shaken. He grinned because he realized that the crimson liquid dripping off his hands was the very proof that he was alive. It verified his existence, his _victory_ , and all it cost was the existence of the one who tried to end him. And he laughed.

"My existence is proven by the end of others, huh?" He said to himself, amused. "If that's the case, that will be my name. Cody End. I like it." He decided before laughing again.

He laughed for several minutes before some red magic symbols appeared. His mind immediately jumping to alert, he used his cloak to hide himself in darkness again. He tried to remember from his studies what group the magic belonged to. 'Definitely Devil magic symbols, but what were the groups again… I think they were separated into Houses or something." He thought as he watched several people appear. They promptly found and examined Doc's corpse. Then they examined the train car.

"Who could have done this?" One of what he assumed to be a lackey asked nervously.

"I don't know, there is no trace of light magic, which knocks out Angels or Fallen." His friend answered.

"Whoever did this, we must find and possibly destroy. Anyone able to take out a high ranking stray like him," a silver haired woman with a maid outfit said while gesturing to the corpse "is dangerous, especially while being unknown. They could be coming back as we speak, so be quick but thorough in your examination and remain on guard." She continued looking around the room looking for any sign of trouble. As she spoke, another Devil magic circle appeared, but it was different than the others. It felt more… _Intense_.

A second later, a man stepped out and the lackeys bowed before returning to the. The man had crimson red hair and blue eyes (You all know who the pair are so I am not going to go too deep with the descriptions). As he appeared, he looked directly where Cody was hidden, and smirked before turning to the group.

"Lord Sirzechs, we are investigating what happened." The silver haired maid said as she curtsied. "When we arrived, the stray Palmer was already dead, his throat ripped open. We currently are unable to discover who did this or why. We have not been able to sense the presence of anyone with the power to accomplish this, nor have we found-"

"We found something." A lackey says, walking up to the duo, holding something.

'Shit, the remnants from my runes! That's one less surprise I have if i'm found and they turn hostile.' Cody cursed seeing the lackey holding the phone and discarded protection runes.

Once again, the Devil Sirzechs shifted his eyes to look at Cody and grinned.

'Shit, I don't like my chances as tired as I am.' Cody thought, knowing that the redhead somehow knew he was there.

Surprisingly though, Sirzechs said nothing and instead turned to the lackeys to speak.

"Head on back, and take the body with you for examination and Evil Piece removal. Grayfia and I will handle whoever did this." He said with authority

"Yes sir!" The lackeys replied before picking up the corpse and leaving, after handing Grayfia the rune remnants.

After they were gone for a couple seconds, Grayfia turned to look at him with a questioning gaze.

"Why did you send them away?" She asked expecting an explanation.

"So our friend in the shadows would relax and calm down before showing himself." He replied with a knowing tone.

'Well, I don't have many options, and he doesn't seem to be hostile or insane. I might as well see if I can end this without a fight.' Cody decided, preparing to reveal himself.

She turned and got ready to fight after sensing Cody unveil himself from the shadows. Only to be told to relax by Sirzechs.

"So, you knew I was there, yet you kept quiet while you had a larger numbers advantage and I was tired. Why?" Cody asked, curious as to what Sirzechs was thinking.

"Well, it seems we both have questions that the other has answers to. So how about we share, hmm?" Sirzechs responded pleasantly.

"Alright, fair enough." Cody said, knowing it was fair, and knowing he was at a large disadvantage.

"I'll prepare some tea then, please excuse me for a moment." The maid known as Grayfia said, getting up to prepare tea.

After a couple of minutes of silence, she carrying back a silver tray with a glass kettle, three cups, sugar, and napkins on it. She passed out the cups to the three of them (herself, Cody, and Sirzechs) and poured the tea. Cody promptly took a napkin, used magic to create a pen, and wrote a fairly complicated series of runes on the napkin consisting of _(poison) (detect) (hidden)_ and _(alert)_. Meanwhile Sirzechs and Grayfia watched with curiosity. Afterwards he placed the napkin under the napkin and activated it. It glowed brightly before the glow died down with the napkin shriveling and burning away from its use. Afterwards, Cody took a drink.

"So who'll start, Sirzechs, Grayfia, or me?" Cody asked, seeing how Sirzechs would react to his name being known.

"Well since you already know our names, how about you start this by you sharing your name?" Sirzechs replied as relaxed as ever while Grayfia's eyes narrowed.

"Alright, my name is Cody End. Next." Cody said bluntly

Sirzechs laughed at Cody's shift between polite and blunt while Grayfia appeared to relax at the lack of word trappings or social maneuvering they had grown accustomed to.

"Let's start with what you just did, what was it?" Sirzechs asked

"I used runes to see if my drink was poisoned, always have to be careful or you could meet an unpleasant demise." Cody said before directing at Sirzechs "My turn, how did you find me immediately?"

"I couldn't simply sense you, instead I felt darkness being compressed from where you were." He replied

"What magic did you use to hide, I couldn't sense your presence, magic traces, or unnatural shifts from where you were?" Grayfia questioned

"It wasn't magic, my soul has the attribute of darkness, which allows me to freely control and manipulate darkness." He said, remembering the texts from when he was researching on soul attributes, uses of attributes, and how to unlock it.

"You are Devils, correct? What house are you from? Also, why does your presences feel so different than the lackeys that were here?" Cody asked shocking both of them a little.

"You're correct, we're Devils from the House of Gremory, and that is because while we're both pure-blooded Devils, and the lackeys, as you put it, are reincarnated Devils. Now, Grayfia has some items I would like to ask you about."

Grayfia suddenly had a look of remembrance, then realization before she put the items with runes on the table.

"Ah yes, would these also happen to be your runes, and what purposes do they have?" Sirzechs questioned seeing the items placed on the table.

"Yes, I created those. These pieces were made from the chair I sat in prior to the attack and are just basic protection runes, meanwhile the phone belonged to one of those corpses over there, and its purpose was a smoke bomb." He said, watching as they went from relaxed to interested at this information.

"You said reincarnated Devils, what are those?" Cody asked with a faint idea of what it could be.

"Well, assuming you know of the Great War," He said, and seeing Cody's confirmation nod, he continued "Well, we have low birth rates, so we have these things called Evil Pieces that are based off of chess pieces, that we use to turn people into Devils. They are called Reincarnated Devils or Devil Servants. When someone reincarnates someone, the reincarnated person then serves whoever reincarnated them as a member of their Peerage." Sirzechs explained, as Cody's mind shifted into overdrive at the possibilities, positives, and negatives.

"You said you made a smoke bomb out of that phone, how? Also, why did it not burn away like the napkin after being used?" Sirzechs asked

"Well, I can't give away all my secrets, but I can tell you that using runes, I can imbue magic or effects into pretty much anything. As for why it's still here, it was better material than paper, so it can be used again, although I would have to put more magic or energy into it since it doesn't have it's own source." Cody replied

"I see, well I believe that it's time you told us what happened here. You mentioned a attack earlier, let us start with that." Sirzechs said getting to the story he was looking forward to.

"It's gonna take a bit, so get comfortable." Cody said, hoping to get done as soon as possible. Also fully intent on leaving out how badly the poison affected him.

-One Story Later-

"I see, well I must be on my way, but before I do, I have to thank you for helping out with Doc. You saved us a lot of trouble, and I thank you for that. I also apologize for letting him get this far. I will personally see to make sure you're well compensated for your troubles. Also, I have to ask if you would be willing to work for me. Your strength, wit, and runes would be invaluable. You would get great benefits, a good wage, and be made stronger by getting reincarnated. Not to mention that you would start as a high-ranking Devil and would have influence being a servant to a Devil King." Sirzechs offered

"Nah, I have no intention of being anything but myself, not to mention serving anyone would not sit well and leave a bad taste in my mouth. I will also just get stronger through my training." Cody said after giving it a moment's thought.

"Are you sure, we could use your rune capabilities?" Asked Sirzechs once more.

"I'm sure, but if you want me to make items, we could be trade partners." Cody counter offered.

"How so?" Sirzechs asked, his interest piqued.

"If you send me a order of what you want, I can make it and deliver it to you through teleportation, or if you have a trade route, i'd send it through that if you wish. Although I will ask for fair compensation and my existence to be kept fairly quiet." Cody stated.

"What compensation would you ask for?" Sirzechs asked as he considered the tempting offer.

"Not much, mostly just books on magic, certain items, notes, or favors like setting up a meeting with other supernatural forces." Cody said, an idea already forming.

"Do you have any idea of what kind of items and meetings you would ask for?" Sirzechs asked cautiously.

"Well, I am rather curious about those Evil Pieces you were talking about, I was also trying to think of a way to go visit the Norse soon to study their fighting style and magic." Cody said honestly with a smile

"You seem decent enough, and it's not as if getting a set from Beelzebub would be too hard. Sure, why not? Just don't do anything that gets you killed before we get enough runed items to make this worthwhile for us." Sirzechs agreed with a smile before leaving, taking Grayfia with him.

-Later, Back at Cody's Room-

'I think that all in all, that went pretty well. While it would've been better to not almost die, it was a good lesson I needed to learn, along with good battle experience. I also need to increase my training regiment. I need to be stronger.' Cody thought with a mental sigh. Although his translation from Yasaka was shredded, he still had the original. It was just a matter of translating it, as much of a pain in the ass that is, it would be well worth it. He hopes.

He also checked his left arm after remembering the black mist. There was a black, horizontal streak where the mist entered his body. No bigger than his thumb, but strange all the same. There was no damage nor did it hurt, but it felt weird. The area where the streak felt kinda like what you would expect rot to feel like. It didn't hurt, but it felt… empty.

'Why do I feel something interesting is gonna happen?' Cody thought before passing out

 **Note:** Poll will be open till next chapter, so Friday to Saturdayish. That is all.


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